the most precious
environment on EarthA rainforest experience, described by Adrian
HoskinsAmazon rainforest,
Brazil

It is
6.00am, and we are awoken by the raucous echoing call of a troop of
howler monkeys. They are perhaps 2 km away, but the sound fills the
forest around us. Dawn is breaking as we venture along a trail through
the primary rainforest. Mysterious butterflies flit around us. I spot
where they have settled, but their amazing camouflage makes them
almost impossible to locate. Some, like Taygetis
angulosa look exactly like dead leaves. Others like
Haetera piera,
Cithaerias pireta and Ithomia agnosia
are almost entirely transparent. Enormous Caligo
Owl butterflies flit from one tree trunk to another. Their wings have
a feathery appearance and are marked with false 'owl eyes', enough to
startle any predatory bird and give the butterfly a chance to escape.

Every butterfly species here has its own distinct personality. The
zebra-striped Colobura dirce sits
motionless on tree trunks as it feeds at sap runs, but if disturbed,
instead of taking flight it scuttles around to hide on the opposite
side of the tree. The striped hairstreak
Arawacus separata sits facing sideways on a leaf, but as soon
as you get within a metre, it rotates to show you its posterior! Like
many other butterflies it seems to take delight in taunting human
observers, but its odd behaviour is simply a survival strategy - by
rotating it narrows its profile and is much harder for a predator to
spot. Butterflies use many strategies to hide themselves from
predators, some use camouflage or disguise, others such as the
Eurybia Riodinids, and the
Nascus skippers, hide under leaves,
darting out periodically to investigate intruders before disappearing
again beneath another nearby leaf.

We come to a small glade, the site
of a peccary mud wallow. Hundreds of butterflies are swarming around
us - gorgeous black and yellow swallowtails, brilliant red and black
Callicores, bright orange Julias, and Morphos - dazzling metallic
blue butterflies the size of saucers. The muddy ground in the glade
is carpeted with butterflies, which settle at our feet to imbibe at
the mineral-rich mud. Male butterflies obtain vital chemicals this
way, and pass them to females during copulation. There are myriads
of butterflies here, and it's impossible to walk without treading on
them. Amongst them are glittering green Caria
Metalmarks, red Marpesia Daggerwings
and the stunning Blue Doctor Rhetus periander.
At the edge of the glade we watch a Starry Night
Hamadryas velutina basking
head-downwards on a tree trunk. It is possibly the most beautiful
butterfly we have seen today, with large velvety black wings adorned
with hundreds of shimmering blue spots.

11.00am - It is hot now, and the forest resounds with the call of
giant cicadas. The sound begins as a slow hesitant clicking, gradually
accelerates to a rattle, then a hum, and escalates into a haunting
siren wail which fills the air for a few moments before fading again
into silence.

In the afternoon we travel upriver by dugout canoe. Amazon kingfishers
swoop past, a harpy eagle hovers high in the sky above us. On a nearby
rocky island we see a caiman basking, and along the riverbanks we see
sun bitterns and the beautiful capped heron. Strings of bright yellow
Eurema and Phoebis
butterflies fly in follow-the-leader fashion along the river's edge.
Hundreds gather to imbibe moisture on the sandbanks, erupting into
flight as our boat passes. We notice how most butterflies congregate
with others of their own species - there are clusters of
Marpesia Daggerwings, groups of
Heraclides Swallowtails, tightly packed
clusters of Protesilaus Swordtails, and
gatherings of bright orange Julias. Many different species arrive and
depart throughout the day until late afternoon when a swirling swarm
of migrating Eunica Purplewings ousts
every other species.

We stop at various places along the river to explore the trails.
Imaginary snakes wait to strike from behind every tree. But they are
not all imaginary. Clambering up a riverbank we suddenly find
our-selves confronted by an enormous anaconda with a massive head and
a body 8 metres in length! Luckily for us it has already eaten - its
belly greatly distended by the capybara which became its breakfast!

As the day cools down, we journey back along the river. Beautiful
birds fly across our path - green ibis, ringed kingfisher, striated
heron, kiskadee, paradise jacamar. A giant river otter inquisitively
pops its head out of the water next to the boat. A capybara, looking
like an enormous guinea pig, looks across at us from the riverbank.
During the next half hour we see a dozen tapirs, amongst the most
enchanting and gentle of all animals, emerging from the forest at
different spots along the riverbank. Back at our base the light is
fading fast, and the howler monkeys roar again. We sit down for our
evening meal, comparing notes about the wonders we have seen, and
agree that this is probably the most wonderful place on Earth.

The next morning we travel downstream for an hour, disembark from our
dugout, and get into a jeep. We leave behind the beautiful pristine
rainforest, travelling through secondary forest and then for several
miles through cattle pastures, until we come to the town where we
catch a plane to our next destination. For 4 hours we fly across what
was formerly rainforest, but all we see is a huge expanse of
semi-desert. The forest has all been burnt down and turned into cattle
pasture, but the pasture only lasts for a few years, and all that
remains now is a barren dusty landscape dotted with termite mounds.
Looking down from our plane we see a dead parched world, devoid of
life.

We have been told that our next destination is an oasis - an 'island'
of pristine rainforest that has miraculously survived amidst a desert
of failed cattle ranches in the state of Rondonia. Our plane lands and
we board a bus. For the next 5 hours we are driven across 200 miles of
devastated land. The forest has gone, the cattle ranches have failed,
and the air is hot, dry and dusty. By the time we arrive at our base
we have a feeling of the most intense grief. Many of us, all grown
men, are in a state of stunned silence. We have left the most
wonderful and precious environment imaginable, and now realise the
full horror of what is happening in Brazil. The foul air around us is
thick with smoke, our eyes are watering, and we are struggling to
breathe.

Fires raging uncontrolled in Rondonia,
Brazil

The spot where we are now standing was once the richest butterfly site
known on Earth. Just 30 years ago it supported over 1500 butterfly
species, but now they are very scarce. Within 5 years they will almost
certainly be lost forever. For 4 days we search the tiny fragment of
forest that still remains here, looking in vain for butterflies,
muttering in disbelief at what has happened here. The incredibly rich
forest, teeming with life, has been devastated, the life is gone.

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